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Judge orders Stormy Daniels to pay nearly $300,000 in legal fees

Posted: 5:05 PM, Dec 11, 2018

Updated:2018-12-11 22:05:59Z

By:
CNN

A California judge has ordered Stormy Daniels pay $293,052.33 in attorney's fees, costs and sanctions to the lawyers representing President Donald Trump in the defamation suit Daniels and her attorney Michael Avenatti brought against Trump earlier this year.

Trump's attorney, Charles Harder, had asked for a total of nearly $780,000 from the adult films actress -- $389,000 in attorney fees and another $389,000 in sanctions in a hearing last week.

In a statement, Harder called the ruling "a total victory for the President."

"The court's order, along with the court's prior order dismissing Stormy Daniels' defamation case against the President, together constitute a total victory for the President, and a total defeat for Stormy Daniels in this case," Harder said.

The defamation suit -- separate from the original lawsuit about the non-disclosure agreement Daniels signed with former Trump attorney Michael Cohen that's now at the center of a federal criminal case against Cohen -- was brought earlier this year after Trump called an allegation by Daniels that an unknown man threatened her in a parking lot to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump a "total con job" in a tweet. Trump has denied having the affair.

Federal District Judge James Otero tossed out the case in October and, as part of that decision, ordered Daniels to pay a portion of Trump's attorney fees.

In response to the decision, Avenatti said the ruling was a partial win for him and his client.

"Trump asked for $800k in attorneys' fees, costs and sanctions from the minor defamation case. The ct awarded well less than 1/2, recognizing that the request was gross & excessive," Avenatti tweeted. "The amount in fees awarded Stormy in the main NDA case will be at least $1 million more than this."